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THE COMMITTEE ON THE 
WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS 
OUTLOOK 


Its Origin and Purpose 





105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET 
NEW YORK 





THE COMMITTEE ON THE WAR 
AND THE RELIGIOUS 
OUTLOOK 


ECOGNIZING that the war had placed upon 

the churches the duty of the most thorough 
self-examination, the Federal Council of the 
Churches of Christ in America, acting in coopera- 
tion with the General War-Time Commission of 
the Churches, requested a group of representative 
men and women to constitute a Committee on the 
War and the Religious Outlook, the purpose of 
which should be “to consider the state of religion 
as revealed or affected by the war, with special 
reference to the duty and the opportunity of the 
churches, and to prepare its findings for submission 
to the churches.”” The Committee, while created 
through the initiative of these two bodies, was 
given entire freedom to act according to its own 
judgment, and is empowered to add to its number. 


The need for a careful inquiry into the present 
religious situation is unmistakable. The first es- 
sential for any successful coping with the new 
responsibilities of the Church is a solid foundation 
of knowledge and a thorough understanding of the 
nature of the problems that we face. This fact 
was early recognized by our fellow Christians in 
Great Britain. There no less than ten different 
committees and commissions have been at work 
upon various phases of the religious and moral situ- 
ation. Six were appointed by the Church of Eng- 
land; two by the Presbyterian churches of Scot- 
land; two are of an interdenominational character. 
The committees of the Church of England have 
already made constructive reports dealing with the 
following special phases of the Church’s activity: 
worship, evangelism, missions, administrative re- 
form, its teaching office, and its relation to indus- 
trial problems. 


When the Committee on the War and the Relig- 
ious Outlook began its work four main lines of 
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The Committee on the War 





inquiry suggested themselves as of chief impor- 
tance: 


(1) What effect has the war had upon the per- 
sonal religious experience? How far has it 
reinforced, how far altered, the existing 
type of religious life and thought? 


(2) What effect has the war had upon the or- 
ganized Christian Church? What changes, 
if any, are called for in its spirit and activi- 
ties? | 

(3) What effect has the war had upon Christian 
teaching? What changes, if any, are called 
for in doctrinal statements or proportional 
emphases? 


(4) What effect has the war had upon the duty 
of the Church with reference to social prob- 
lems of the time? What reconstructions are 
needed to make our social order more Chris- 
tian? 


As the Committee has proceeded with these in- 
quiries several distinct fields of investigation have 
emerged. This has led to the appointment of four 
special sub-committees, each dealing with its own 
distinct field. The appointment of others is under 
consideration. In the membership of each of these 
sub-committees are included several persons with 
special interest and experience in the field under 
investigation, not already serving in the Com- 
mittee as a whole. 


The first field for special investigation is the 
Army and Navy. What is revealed by a study of 
religion there? It is recognized that in the Army 
and Navy was found a cross section of American 
men of the younger generation and that out of this 
group will come very largely the makers of the 
future. Those who came into intimate contact 
with them had a very unusual opportunity to see 
the place that religion holds in the lives of average 
men—their faith, their habits, their attitude toward 
the Church and its standards. At the same time 
the religious workers in the service were the wit- 
nesses of whatever changes the war experience may 
have worked in the thought and life of men and 
their attitude toward the Church. Both in this 
country and overseas the Committee has been gath- 


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And the Religious Outlook 


ering up this knowledge for the guidance of the 
Church. 


A second important field of study is the world 
of industry. The war has aggravated social unrest 
and emphasized certain great social problems, par- 
ticularly those of an industrial character. ‘The 
months following the armistice have been marked 
by a succession of proposals coming from secular 
and religious sources for the building of a more 
Christian social order. ‘The Church needs to see 
clearly what is its responsibility for the solution of 
these problems and what are the ways in which 
Christian principles can be brought to bear more 
effectively upon our social relationships. 


A third field of special investigation is the non- 
Christian world. Has the war given an enhanced 
significance and urgency to foreign missions? What 
effect, if any, has the war had on the thought of 
non-Christian peoples as to the validity or need or 
practicability of Christianity? Has it altered their 
estimate of so-called Christian civilization? Has 
it opened up new opportunities or set up fresh 
obstacles to the missionary task of the Church? 
In a day when we have entered upon a new era of 
internationalism such questions as these mean much 
to the future of the Church. 


A fourth field of particular interest is the 
place and work of women in the light of the war. 
The war has brought new responsibilities to women. 
It has hastened their assumption of political re- 
sponsibility. It has added enormously to their 
participation in industry. These changes are of 
such significance for the home and for the place of 
women in the life of the Church that a special 
group of well qualified women has been asked to 
study this field. 


In addition to reports covering the four fields 
outlined above, a final report will be made dealing 
specially with the experience, the activity and the 
organization of the Church at home. It will 
summarize the findings of the other reports 
from this point of view and will seek to dis- 
cover, in the light of the whole experience of 
the Churches during the war and the months im- 
mediately following, what changes, if any, are 
needed in the work of the Churches along the lines 


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The Committee on the War 


of worship, preaching, evangelism, education, or- 
ganization, cooperation, or other aspects not ade- 
quately considered in the other reports. 

Substantial progress has already been made in 
gathering the information upon which these reports 
will be based. It is not too late, however, for any 
one who has had experience or who has been think- 
ing along any of these lines to cooperate with the 
Committee by sending personal observations or re- 
actions. Every such suggestion will add to the use- 
fulness of the Committee and will contribute to the 
preparation of reports that will help the Churches 
to see their opportunity and responsibility more 
clearly. 

It is hoped that these reports may appear about 
the end of the summer. In the meantime the Com- 
mittee has undertaken to issue a series of special 
pamphlets dealing with various phases of the 
Church’s task in the light of the war. These pam- 
phlets are written by specially qualified individuals 
at the request of the Committee and are published 
under its direction, appearing under the general 
caption, “The Religious Outlook.” It is hoped 
that they will be of value to the local minister in 
clarifying his thinking in the face of present per- 
plexities. The following are now in press or soon 
to appear: 


The War and the Religious Outlook, by Dr. 
Robert E. Speer. 

The Church Facing the Future, by Rev. William 
Adams Brown. 

The Church’s Message to the Nation, by Rev. 
Harry Emerson Fosdick. 

Christian Principles Essential to a New World 
Order, by Pres. W. H. P. Faunce. 


Christian Aspects of Economic Reconstruction, 


by Prof. Herbert N. Shenton. 


Other pamphlets will deal with Foreign Missions 
in the New Age, Home Missions in the New Age, 
the Church and the Community, the Teaching Of- 
fice of the Church, Next Steps in Christian Coop- 
eration, the Effect of the War on the Religious 
Thought of Women, and similar subjects. 

A comprehensive bibliography on the War and 
Religion has been in preparation for more than a 


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&” 


And the Religious Outlook 


year and is soon to be published. Some of the 
general subdivisions will indicate the scope of the 
work: General Literature on the Influence of the 
War upon Religion; Religion in the Army; Chris- 
tianity, War and Pacifism; the Nature and Func- 
tion of the Church in Light of the War; Christian 
Belief as Affected by the War; Christianity and 
Social Questions Emphasized by the War; Chris- 
tianity and International Questions; Christian 
Education in Light of the War. The critical 
annotations included in the bibliography will, it 
is hoped, make it of practical value to the minister 
as well as to libraries and theological seminaries. 


The Committee as at present constituted con- 
sists of the following persons: 


Mrs. Frep S. Bennett, President of the 
Women’s Council for Home Missions. 

Rev. Wititiam Apams Brown, Secretary of the 
General War-Time Commission of _ the 
Churches. 

Miss Maznet Crarty, Secretary of the National 
War Work Council of the Young Women’s 
Christian Association. 

Mr. Grorae W. Coteman, Chairman of the War 
Commission of the Northern Baptist Conven- 


tion. 
Rev. W. H. P. Fauncez, President of Brown 
University. 


Rev. Harry Emerson Fospick, Professor in the 
Union Theological Seminary. 

Rev. Cuartes W. Giixkey, Pastor of the Hyde 
Park Baptist Church, Chicago. 

Mr. Freperick Harris, of the Association Press. 

Proressor W. E. Hockine, Harvard University. 

Rev. Samuet G. Inman, Secretary of the Com- 
mittee on Cooperation in Latin America. 


Prorrssorn Cuarutes M. Jacoss, Vice-Chairman 
of the National Lutheran Commission for 
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Welfare. 


Rev. Henry Cuurcuitt Kine, President of 
Oberlin College. 

Bisuop Water R. Lamsutru, Chairman of the 
War Work Commission of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South. 


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The Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook 


Bisuop Francis J. McConne.u, of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. 

Rev. Cuarues S. Macraruanp, General Secre- 
tary of the Federal Council of the Churches 
of Christ in America. 

Rev. Witiiam Dovuaeias Mackenzie, President 
of the Hartford Theological Seminary. 

Rev. SHarrer Maruews, Dean of the Faculty of 
Theology, University of Chicago. 

Dr. Joun R. Mort, General Secretary of the 
International Committee of the Y. M. C. A. 
Rev. E. Y. Muuuins, President of the Southern 

Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Rev. Frank Mason Norru, President of the 
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
America. 

Very ReEvEREND Howarp C. Rossins, Dean of 
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New 
York. 

Dr. Ernest C. Ricuarpson, Librarian of 
Princeton University. 

Dr. Rosert E. Speerr, Chairman of the General 
War-Time Commission of the Churches. 

Rev. Anson Puetps Strokes, Secretary of Yale 
University. 

Rev. James I. Vance, Chairman of the General 
War Work Council of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States. 

Rev. Henry B. Wasusurn, Executive Secre- 
tary of the War Commission of the Episcopal 
Church. 

Miss Mary E. Woottey, President of Mount 
Holyoke College. 

Proressor Henry B. Wriaeut, Religious Work 
Directory, Army Yous Can) 


Professor William Adams Brown is Chairman of 


the Committee and President Henry Churchill 


King and Rev. Charles W. Gilkey, Vice-Chairmen. 
President King served as Chairman during the 
early stage of the Committee but was compelled 
to resign the chairmanship on account of pro- 
longed absence in Europe in the fulfilment of 
other important responsibilities. Rev. Samuel 
McCrea Cavert is serving as Secretary and Rev. 
Angus Dun as Associate Secretary. 


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